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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Paw and Order #SpencerQuinn #ChettheDog

LUCY BURDETTE: We love Spencer Quinn books here at Jungle Red, and before those, we loved Peter Abrahams books. And lucky us, now Spencer/Peter is here visiting! First of all welcome, Spencer (we'll call you that since we're talking dogs today), please tell us a little about the new book.SPENCER QUINN: Thanks for inviting me over, Jungle Red people! In Paw and Order, seventh in the Chet and Bernie series, C & B visit Suzie Sanchez in Washington DC. She's Bernie's girlfriend from back home in Arizona, but she's taken a job reporting for the Washington Post - "a no brainer" as Bernie puts it,which is the best kind of brainer out there, in Chet's opinion. Things go bad from the get-go, when Bernie mistakes Eben St. John, a mysterious Brit, for a love interest of Suzie's, when in fact he's only a source.Then something not good happens to Eben, and the instrument of that not-good is a gun belonging to Bernie. You see where this is going? Yes, into the maze of an international conspiracy Le Carre or Graham Greene style, except seen through the eyes of a member of the nation within the nation, as Bernie refers to the dog population of the USA. Don't want to spoil the story, so all that I'll add is that it features what I'm sure is literature's first and only dog-versus-drone scene.

LUCY: How do you get into the head of Chet the Dog in order to write his character? Is he based on a real dog?

SPENCER: Now we come to the fun of this job! I use my imagination. Or it uses me. I just start telling the story in Chet's voice. There's so much discussion of plotting, reversals, point of view, etc. Is there enough about the imagination, the best club in the bag, in my opinion? Chet's not based on a real dog, but I couldn't have written him without having had lots of dogs in my life.

LUCY: One of things people love about mystery series is the way the characters grow and change. Could you talk about the challenge of this with a dog as the character?SPENCER: Growth and change are not Chet's thing! He likes people to stay in place. So what the reader sees as growth and change are often puzzlements to him. Perhaps just one more of the payoffs I stumbled upon in thisnarrative form. (The photo is me on tour: me playing Bernie; a lovely
member of the nation within (as Bernie refers to dogs) called Sadie,
playing Chet: and a Porsche playing the Porsche.)

LUCY: You've written both stand-alones and series, including suspense and YA.What are the challenges and joys of each?

SPENCER: I like doing different things. Doesn't it keep you fresh? One thing about novel writing, as opposed to playing professional baseball, for example: if you take care of yourself you can still be doing it at 80.

LUCY: What's up next for you?

SPENCER: I'm continuing with Chet and Bernie, of course. PAW AND ORDER, just out now, will be followed by book 8 next summer or fall. But also, I'm starting a middle-grade, dog-narrated mystery series for Scholastic. Book one in the Bowser and Birdie series, WOOF, comes out next summer.

LUCY: And Hank would like to know (in fact we all would!), when you came up with the idea of Chet the Dog, did your agent love it immediately?

SPENCER: Hi, Hank! Well, the answer is I sent DOG ON IT, book one, into her without warning. But yes, I recall a positive reaction.

Im about to gush, so forgive me.. but truly, Peter, you are one of the most talented writers ever. (And don't forget his Echo Falls series, gang, another treasure!) Even in the most stark of your thrillers, your humanity and kindness come out... ANd I laugh and smile all the way through the Chet and Bernie books. SO---sweet.

I do think imagination is one of the best clubs in the bag.I 'm always astonished when I write something then think--whoa, Where did that come from? It's incredible that we as humans are the only creatures (the we know of...) who can come up with something out of nothing. Create worlds that never existed. So amazing.

I have only begun reading the Chet and Bernie books. As a dog fanatic (who must be dogless, sadly) I adore Chet. It's amazing how suspenseful your books are as told through Chet's viewpoint! (Chet is a great narrator!)

Hi Peter! I adore Chet and Bernie! Even if I didn't, "dog vs drone" would make it a must-read.

And just at the moment, watching five big dogs (three of ours, two of our daughter's)racing around like maniacs and churning up the mud in our back yard, I think there may be advantages to imaginary dogs...

We love Spencer's books! As a dog person, I welcome a pet-tective (I just came up with that on the fly, what do you think?)who's not a cat. Even my oldest, who is evermore not a mystery reader, enjoyed A FISTFUL OF COLLARS, the fifth Chet and Bernie mystery, when she lifted it from my bedside table.

and ps Spencer, I showed my hub your tour picture--he could not believe a fan brought the car and allowed a dog into it:). I love my fans so much too--but they bring things like sofrito. Delicious! But not a Porsche:)

And a Porsche in pristine condition, Roberta! Not like Chet and Bernie's. In fact C&B have had 3 so far, each more dinged up than the last. The first went off a cliff and the second got blown up. I spent some time, actually, wondering what sort of ride they should have.

If my husband would comment about my need to buy more and more books, I will simply say, "Blame it on the Reds." I was actually already aware of you, Spencer/Peter, but I had no idea that you were both Spencer Quinn and Peter Abrahams. I find this fact especially interesting because of two books that I have that I keep trying to get to, Doggone It and Down the Rabbit Hole. Now, my brain has been reawakened to these books, they will immediately be moved to my pile of short-listed books.

I love the idea of Chet being the narrator. As a long-time dog owner, I often wonder just what my dear doggie is thinking. And, dog vs. drone sounds wildly interesting. I look forward to getting to know Chet and Bernie and checking into the Echo Falls series, too.

So much fun to read more about this dynamic duo. I am a huge fan of the Chet and Bernie books. Thank you for this wonderful series. Happy to hear that you are writing for middle grade - I think the kids at the library where I work will love WOOF!

Expanding on WOOF for those commenters who referred to it: it takes place in Louisiana, which I love writing about but haven't done much of (except for THE SOUND AND THE FURRY). Bowser's the dog - and narrator - and Birdie's the eleven-year-old sleuth (a word I've never liked). Birdie lives mostly with her grandma who runs a small fishing/swamp tour business in a fictional town on the Atchafalaya Basin. Birdie's highly competent with fishing gear, boats, nature in general.

Did anyone read a short story called Flush? I think the author was Virginia Woolf. The narrator was a cute dog belonging to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Yes, the story is about Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

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